Because some people think Launchbox is better, so that’s the one that’s shipped with Haiku. Having both of them would be strange.
1 Like
Basically every other OS have a quick launcher in the desktop shell.
Now, of course we don’t always have to copy what other OSes do, but if everyone does, maybe we should at least think about it.
Maybe a poll about bundling Launchbox or LnLauncher?
Sorry, I meant LaunchBox, not LnLauncher
Thanks for the prototypes and constant iterations. It’s been inspiring me to think about this too.
I liked the tree view approach and tried applying it, but I realized a few things:
- Horizontal scrolling could be tricky for favorites, so maybe those should just be pinned in a grid or just using Trackers’ link system that have those in the Desktop rather than Deskbar
- The tree view is interesting, but it requires constant fiddling to move back and forth
- Tabs are a good way to divide information, so could we apply that same logic to all items in the Deskbar?
So what if we simplify by relying only on vertical lists and scroll? That way, users don’t need to scroll in multiple directions. Every parent category stays just one click away, and actions like searching files, mounting disks, and opening recent files are unified into the same list
In any case, keep going!
7 Likes
I think more serious changes to the “Deskbar” should be implemented as a separate “Deskbar” variant (a spinoff).
As for myself, I would suggest a small change to the “Deskbar” menu: splitting the menu into two parts (more frequently used items in one, and settings or control items in the other).
Assign the function “faster menu scrolling” to the middle mouse button.
An image for visual demonstration:
2 Likes
I would like LaunchBox to have sticky edge support even without the window border and not have to register in the Deskbar list of running apps. Maybe even with smart center (top, bottom, left, or right) alignment depending on vertical or horizontal layout. I do use LnLauncher because PulkoMandy suggested it many years ago. It reminded me a lot of the classic Mac OS Control Strip.
I made a quick mashup of our designs, using bcardlayout to show a list a time, perhaps to reduce the size, action buttons (shutdown - about) would go on top/bottom, as in my previous version, and selection buttons on the side (labels are optional), and truncating the text to reduce width, so no more icon strips or drag and drop
5 Likes
Is the digital clock deskbar replicant in your video a real replicant that’s available now on Haiku? (there used to be a BeOS one)?
This is a real application, it is not public because it was generated by LLM, so I cannot say if there is code taken from elsewhere and under what licenses, probably not since it was instructed from my own code for yab and it required a lot of trial and error to have the replicant working, but in doubt it will not go to a public repo.
3 Likes
Nicely done! I’d use this for sure. It feels snappy and easy to use. I think the buttons on the right side could have an optional view in the Deskbar options:
- Icon and text (ease of use)
- Icon only (for power users)
Below the item name, the location or metadata description could be a toggle in the options.
The snappy feel and ease of use feel great already!
2 Likes
Here’s what I had in mind for system options like Disks / Mount
We can provide more contextual information while keeping it simple and easy
10 Likes
I’ve been working on it in these last days, added a spotlight-like file search, and as you can see in this video, it may help to quicken your workflow
7 Likes
Great work!
Can search be triggered by a key ?
On windows, I just do anything (launch apps, open paths in the filesystem) by hitting the “windows” key and writing things on the keyboard.
Uhm, perhaps just as an option in the preferences (the whole pref section is not implemented yet), where the user choose which is the preferred selection, double pressing CMD+space (the shortcut I’m using to summon spielbar) or as an argument in the command line or maybe with a proper scripting support
1 Like
yes me too. it very good
1 Like